


The Storm

by msermesth



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: 616 Day, Angst, Execute Program, Extremis, M/M, New Avengers Vol. 1 (2004), Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 05:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14948327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msermesth/pseuds/msermesth
Summary: Yesterday, Tony stopped his heart to save Steve’s life.Today, Steve has something to say about that.





	The Storm

**Author's Note:**

> For 616 Day 2018. Happy comics guys!
> 
> This is set after Execute Program and before Civil War. 
> 
> Inspired by stories of Alexa recording conversations and sending them to other people. 
> 
> Not a very happy story.

Steve stared down at Midtown Manhattan below him, tracking the passing taxis as they moved or watching as specs of people stopped to use the ATM across the street. It was the same view he saw every morning from the windows of the penthouse’s kitchen; when you were this far up, it was easier to see the rhythms of everyday life. The chaos Steve always associated with New York became patterns. Traffic lights turned from green to yellow to red. Waves of commuters ascended up the subway stop stairs. Life went on.

He tried to harness the resilience New Yorkers seemed to carry with them, but while the rest of the world had returned to normal since Tony's brain had been hacked, Steve couldn't.

These things happened all the time. This time wasn’t any different.

Steve instantly saw through his own bullshit.

He had thought coming up here would help him gain perspective, but there was none to be found. Or, he did find something approaching clarity, and wished he could return to the muddled confusion he’d been operating with for too long.

The kitchen was empty, the rest of the team scattered fighting or relaxing or doing anything else they could outside of the tower. It was a beautiful day.

For Steve, the fresh air just reminded him of Tony, still unconscious and surrounded by beeping machines.

“Tony,” he said out loud to his own reflection in the mirror.

The name sounded different on his lips than it had the day before and the day before that. It had always been more than a name--it had been home and comfort and the knowledge that there was someone at your six making sure you would be okay--but today it sounded like the way the air whistles when you jump off a cliff.

“I--I--,” he continued but found that the privacy of the kitchen didn't make him feel any more confident. He knew what he needed to say and how he needed to say it. It was his location that was the problem. The second he saw Tony’s face, the words would tumble out like too many marbles held in one hand and Steve would never be able to catch them in time before they reached Tony’s ears. “Maybe I felt like this for years, maybe even since you found me.” Steve remembered that day--it felt like stepping into a science fiction novel and discovering it was a story that completes you. “Since the beginning you’ve been a source of warmth and light. When you zip through the skies, the gold and red of your armor blurs into a beautiful fire. I was frozen and then I wasn’t and…” Steve trailed off and watched as dark clouds rolled in from the west. The color of them clashed with the rich blue of the skies.

From up here, they were almost at eye level. Soon, rain would wash down the glass of the tower, obscuring and transforming the shapes below. If it was bad enough, everything outside would go dark, a violent midday night.

Steve placed his hand against the cold glass and looked down. Already shadows were falling on the people below. Dots of them pick up their pace, perhaps knowing that they needed shelter.

 _Shelter_. That was what Tony was to Steve.

How could Steve ask any more of Tony than Tony had already given him?

Steve had never learned how to be a successful boyfriend; there was no reason to believe that Steve would be able to give Tony what he couldn’t give Bernie or Sharon.

The rain created an ominous shadow in the distance. The storm was coming for them.

Steve lifted his hand off the glass. Tony was too good of a friend to ruin everything with the lead weighing down Steve’s heart. He turned around, and never finished saying the words he couldn’t stop thinking.

 

* * *

 

Tony groaned as Extremis nudged him to pay attention.

_Incoming message from Steve Rogers._

Pain had kept him awake for the last few hours, but in this strange stage of half-rest and half-agony. He shook his head, knowing the action would do nothing to clear it, and accepted the incoming transmission over Extremis.

“Tony,” Steve said, and while the sound quality was clear, Steve’s voice wasn’t. He sounded as if he was stuck under a rock and contemplating sawing off his own hand. Tony sat up straight and instructed Extremis to find Steve immediately.

He hadn't left the tower, and there were no signs of a security breach.

“I--I-” Steve’s voice broke and he paused leaving Tony to wait for him to continue. So many possibilities filled Tony’s mind. What if Steve was leaving the team? Was it because of him? Tony knew that Steve hated Extremis, but he never imagined he felt this strongly about it.

He contemplated ways he could rip Extremis out of his body, even from his very cells.

Steve continued. “Maybe I felt like this for years, maybe even since you found me.” Tony remembered that day--it felt like coming home, like finding the lightswitch in a pitch-black room. “Since the beginning you’ve been a source of warmth and light. When you zip through the skies, the gold and red of your armor blurs into a beautiful fire. I was frozen and then I wasn’t and…” Steve trailed off, leaving only the sound of wind against the tower, and Tony had no idea how he meant to finish that thought.

 _And…_ what?

Was Tony too reckless? Too broken?

Did Steve know that Tony had been lying here and reading the latest draft of the Superhuman Registration Act?

 _Since the beginning_ felt like a confession that ended with _but my feelings have changed_.

The communication ended and Tony waited for Steve to fix whatever he meant to say.

 

* * *

 

Tony stared down at Steve's lifeless body.  _It's cold_ , he thought, the room kept at a temperature that reminded him of the water in which they found Steve. He remembered that day--it felt like loss in reverse, an ominous promise of the new heights from which Tony could now fall. 

He wondered what would have happened if he had told Steve that he loved him.

He wondered what Steve meant to say months ago as he lay in a hospital bed.

He wondered if either of them would have listened.


End file.
